March 9, 2005: Headlines: COS - Lesotho: The Detroit News: Peggi Tabor loves a challenge and that's exactly what she got when she signed on with the Peace Corps last year to spend 27 months in the rural African country of Lesotho

Peace Corps member from Farmington Hills, 60, hopes to extend her good fortune to others.

By Jennifer Youssef / The Detroit News

Caption: Peggi Tabor, a former national account manager for Xerox Corp., has spent eight months living in a stone-and-mud hut in Africa with no plumbing or electricity, traveling by donkey to get to the nearest water source a mile away.

FARMINGTON HILLS -- Peggi Tabor loves a challenge.

And that's exactly what she got when she signed on with the Peace Corps last year to spend 27 months in the rural African country of Lesotho, on the southeast side of the continent, teaching villagers to become more self-sufficient and economically developed.

The 60-year-old former national account manager for Xerox Corp. has already spent eight months living in a stone-and-mud hut with no plumbing or electricity, traveling by donkey to get to the nearest water source a mile away.

She is training residents in seven villages, who are mainly sustenance farmers, how to develop their economy and speak English.

Tabor also is introducing them to modern health and hygiene practices to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

She helped deliver a baby on her first day in the village of Menkhoaneng, has fed dozens of starving people and buried hundreds of natives who died from starvation or AIDS.

"We're not there to change the culture," said Tabor, who was at home in Farmington Hills last week. "We're trying to show the (natives) how to make the best use of what they have."

When she isn't teaching a cooking class or talking to tribal leaders about issues their villages are facing, Tabor is doing a range of other duties from developing new educational and medical programs to working with individuals interested in starting their own businesses.

One nurse is in charge of the nearest medical clinic and sees more than 150 patients every day, Tabor said. The only way for most patients to get to the clinic is by walking or by donkey. The nurse also cleans the clinic after it closes and oversees its operation.

Tabor said she is working with four entrepreneurs, including one who wants to establish a taxi service and another who is considering setting up an Internet system, showing them how to write a business proposal, apply for grants and get a loan from the bank.

"I love these people," Tabor said. "They are so hard-working and so proud. It's a privilege to work with them.

"I've done a lot of good and interesting things in my life and in my career, but this is by far the most fulfilling thing I've ever done."

Other projects Tabor hopes to see to fruition include the construction of a road in the village, establishing a tourism program and getting toilets in the local school.

Programs she has already put in place are a Meals on Wheels-type service where students in her cooking class deliver the food they make to people who are too sick to leave their homes and a transportation service that takes sick people to the nearest medical clinic.

Helping others in more primitive countries is the least Tabor said she can do after all the good fortune she has had at home. She returned to Lesotho after her brief visit home and will remain there until September 2007.

"I've always enjoyed the U.S. and everything it has to offer," Tabor said. "I've had a good education, family, health and wealth.

"We owe it to others to give them some of what we know."

Hank Murawski, a longtime friend of Tabor's, said he admires what his friend is doing in Africa. He even considered setting up a fund to collect money for Tabor to buy the items and supplies the villagers so desperately need.

"In my view, she's bringing a lot of information to (the people in) her village," said Murawski, a Farmington Hills resident and business development manager for Q-Quest Corp. in Dearborn.

"It takes people like Peggi to bring more understanding" between cultures he said.

You can reach Jennifer Youssef at (313) 222-2300 or jyoussef@detnews.com.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PCRPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

March 1: National Day of ActionTuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

Make a call for the Peace CorpsPCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot?Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVsRead about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace CorpsThe White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

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Story Source: The Detroit News

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